This application relates to a hollow fan blade construction and method of construction wherein a cover is welded to a main blade body, and wherein the cover is also attached to internal components by an adhesive.
Gas turbine engines are known, and typically include a fan delivering air into a compressor section. The air is compressed in the compressor section, delivered into a combustion section, mixed with fuel and burned. Products of this combustion pass downstream over turbine rotors, driving the turbine rotors to rotate.
The turbine rotors in turn drive the compressor rotors and the fan. One recent development in gas turbine engines is a so-called “geared” fan. A gear reduction is provided between a turbine spool driving a low pressure compressor and the fan. In this manner, the speed of the fan can be varied relative to the speed of the low pressure compressor. With such an arrangement, larger fan blades can be utilized.
To reduce the weight associated with the larger fan blades, hollow aluminum fan blades arrangements have been proposed. These hollow blades typically have a number of hollow channels which may or may not include a light weight filler. A cover skin is typically adhesively bonded to the main body to enclose the hollow fan blade.